Implications of growing up with tech still unknown

The simple toy cars and dolls that all children once wanted are now out of style. In a constant cycle of out with the old and in with the new, tech toys and gadgets have taken over.

Most toys in the current generation have been equipped with some sort of technology.

Take toys such as the high-tech Barbie Dreamhouse smart house. Rather than just being a plain dollhouse, the Dreamhouse has floor sensors to detect where Barbie is, speech recognition, and stairs that can switch into a slide.

“I feel like it’s overwhelming for the kids,” Dennie said. “We don’t know what kind of effects it has on them at eight or nine years old.”

A 2014 report done by MediaSmarts showed more than one quarter of Canadian students in Grade 4 own a cell phone.

This number surprised Dennie.

“I don’t know how kids are given phones at such an early age and how toys already have smart-tech implemented in them,” he said. “I didn’t get my first phone until I was 17-years-old, nor did smart-tech toys exist when I was young.”